The Future of Camper Vans.

I found this elsewhere and it looks like the future of Camper Vans is going Electric, At first it did not seem impressive but as you read on it seems to get better as the options are added and when you consider the size of this vehicle could make it a real blast out in the bush,

Enjoy,

J.

https://expeditionportal.com/could-ebussy-be-the-campervan-of-the-future/

I can just see the latte crew going bush in that thing. Nah, I'll give it a miss. Might be suited to roaming outback UK though.

Cheers

Doug

Rockhunter62 said:

I can just see the latte crew going bush in that thing. Nah, I'll give it a miss. Might be suited to roaming outback UK though.

Cheers

Doug

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It is a step in the right direction being 4 Wheel Drive and having a range of up to 800ks as well as self charging, that's more than double what the current offerings can do, The US already has an F-250 4x4 with huge power but not enough range,

One has to remember this is the first vehicle to offer the fuel range that can rival that of a Gas/Diesel powered vehicle, It won't match my Van but there again my Van does not have 4x4, But driven carefully my Van can achieve over 1600ks on 60L of Diesel but my average is closer to 1370 / 1380ks per 60L,

Like it or not these types of vehicles are getting better and better and the starting price of this Vehicle comes in at around 16,000 Euros which is not too shabby, And having around 1000nm of Torque will just about out pull any other 4x4 on the market.

A V8 Land Cruiser has 543.68 Nm of Torque or 401 Lb Ft

This Vehicle has 1000 Nm of Torque or 737.56 Lb Ft,

That's almost double the power of a V8 Land Cruiser and as these vehicles progress we only have to look at Diesel Electric Trains to see the kind of power that can be achieved.

Gee no solar, you drive for 2 hours then stop for up to 6 hours to recharge.

Given my experience of Pommy weather, you would only get enough solar for 2 weeks of the year and in winter probably not worth it at all.

In Oz, well there's no power points in the Simpson.

As a comparison RR what would a mid size 4x4 wagon cost in the UK in Euros.

condor22 said:

Gee no solar, you drive for 2 hours then stop for up to 6 hours to recharge.

Given my experience of Pommy weather, you would only get enough solar for 2 weeks of the year and in winter probably not worth it at all.

In Oz, well there's no power points in the Simpson.

As a comparison RR what would a mid size 4x4 wagon cost in the UK in Euros.

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More like drive for 4 to 5 hours and recharge them Tesla's.

You can buy a mid sized 4x4 wagon for around 22,600 euros, There are a lot of EV's on the road over here now and most of the motorway servo's have Charging Points for them,

The UK and the EU have a lot stricter pollution laws now which is why I bought the Van, I really miss my truck even more so after all the money I spent on it getting it the way I wanted, but I would of had to pay a toll every time I drove the thing,

Over here you haven't been able to take a Vehicle in to Oxford for a couple of years now and other towns and cities are following suit, and in parts of Europe you can't drive vehicles if they are not EURO 5 or 6 Cat, Which is why I bought my Van because it is EURO 6 and the only thing that is less polluting would be to buy an Electric Vehicle. Which is why my Van gets such high MPG,

oki, unfortunately, very few electric vehicles used outside of capital cities here and it's a long long way between them. The 2 closest are ADL & MELB at near 800 km. Even in Adelaide it's 70kms N to S of the same city. In the U.K. I remember it's only 22 km from Nottingham to Derby, lol.

Distance is what stops electric here, notwithstanding towing 2 ton of caravan. There are a lot of people in oz that tow vans, boats and other heavy trailers, electrics won't do it.

The other thing is they are not cheap here about the cheapest Hyundai is over $58k AUD, Tesla is over $100k.

condor22 said:

oki, unfortunately, very few electric vehicles used outside of capital cities here and it's a long long way between them. The 2 closest are ADL & MELB at near 800 km. Even in Adelaide it's 70kms N to S of the same city. In the U.K. I remember it's only 22 km from Nottingham to Derby, lol.

Distance is what stops electric here, notwithstanding towing 2 ton of caravan. There are a lot of people in oz that tow vans, boats and other heavy trailers, electrics won't do it.

The other thing is they are not cheap here about the cheapest Hyundai is over $58k AUD, Tesla is over $100k.

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The last time I drove back from the Midlands I stopped at a couple of the Motorway servo's and they seem to have around 10 to 30 Charging bays normally situated near the Dining area not where the Fuel pumps are, when I was there I saw about 9 Tesla's all parked up funny thing was 7 of them were all the same colour which would of made it fun for the owners trying to find the right car, lol

But here's the reality of Electric Cars, You charge them up and drive it for 3 or 4 hours and then it takes anything from 2 to 4 hours to charge it, So planning a trip from here to Scotland if you manage to drive 300+Ks in about 3 or 4 hours you then have to spend 2 to 4 hours charging it up before you can be on your way and then you have to drive another 3 or 4 hours and then charge it for another 2 to 4 hours and drive for another 3 or 4 hours, That means it is going to take you in excess of 20 to 30 hours to drive from London to Scotland which is normally an 8 hour drive or close to it,

So In my eyes EV's are just not practical not to mention the cost of charging it 5 times would cost around the same amount as a Tank of Diesel and in my Van I could get there and back or close to it with zero stops and not wasting 3 hours each time to charge it 5X to make the same journey. :N:

EDIT, Next time I go up there I will take a picture of the charging bays, Also There are Charging points scattered about the Streets over here so you don't even have to go to a Servo to Charge them up and a few Owners also have mega Charging setups at home as well.

Imagine is everyone went electric very quickly? Servos would need to be like multi story mall car parks, with motels built nearby so people could spend the night at the servo while their cars charged lol

davent said:

Imagine is everyone went electric very quickly? Servos would need to be like multi story mall car parks, with motels built nearby so people could spend the night at the servo while their cars charged lol

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Funny you should mention that, A lot of the motorway servo's over here start charging you to park if you are there more than 2 hours So I wonder if they charge you a parking fee if your car takes more than 2 hours to charge etc,

There was a time when it was free to park there for a few hours or the night, Now when I go places I make a note of where the Layby's at the side of the roads are so I can plan my trips and save on parking fee's, :Y:

What size gen set would you need to charge the batteries up as you drive??

Perpetual motion anyone?? :lol: :lol: :lol:

A common issue not mentioned in the write-ups & advertising of electric vehicles is that the stated range is usually calculated or measured at its most economical, using minimal power drain, ie gentle/moderate driving & not towing.
If driven a bit harder or tow even a small load then the range drops significantly.

Some guy in my area tested a Tesla S towing a 2,000 lb trailer, his range was 300+ miles not towing, hooked up towing he was getting 80-90 miles, I think they were going 1400 miles to a Casita Rally, they turned around and went home too many recharges and no recharge stations. Long way to go with electric to be of much value for towing and offroading. I do have a buddy with a model S Tesla uses it weekly for his mobile work office in his hardy siding business, and its been working out well for him, 45 min recharges once a day. Cheap to charge about 19.00, versus his 1,000.00 dollar fuel bills running his diesel F250.

My opinion -

In Australia, if you live and work in a local area, in a capital city, in similar circumstances as perhaps Europe, then an electric vehicle may well be viable. All depending on recharge stations when away from home.

If you travel, tow or live rural, an electric vehicle is of no use unless or until, they can replicate the same range and torque as a diesel.

i.e. How many recharges would it take to drive from Adelaide to Perth (rhertorical). In some vehicles even today, if you miss a fill at one of the Nullarbor servos, you might not reach the next one.

It costs $3500 to replace the batteries in a 'Toyota Prius'...and they're small batteries. The itek' is $50,000 drive away. Plus it's not even a camper (sorry off topic).

I need that life changing nugget. :argh:

ps; If you can't afford to put fuel in your 4WD you have a big problem!!!

If they can give these vehicles 800ks range then they might have a product worth buying But none of them can do what the manufacturers claim and a lot of them can't be Rapid Charged,

Some of the do as little as 18 miles per charge but still get the GOV perks even though they mainly run on Diesel or Petrol,

Check this out page out As you scroll down every Brand is there and when you click on a vehicle it will open up and show you their charging etc A lot have 4 to 6 hour charging and quite a few take over night to recharge,

https://pod-point.com/guides/vehicles

https://pod-point.com/guides/vehicles/skoda/2020/superb-iv

Billions will be made, and billions will be lost by the gullible.

Not this little black duck. :trophy:

condor22 said:

My opinion -

In Australia, if you live and work in a local area, in a capital city, in similar circumstances as perhaps Europe, then an electric vehicle may well be viable. All depending on recharge stations when away from home.

If you travel, tow or live rural, an electric vehicle is of no use unless or until, they can replicate the same range and torque as a diesel.

i.e. How many recharges would it take to drive from Adelaide to Perth (rhertorical). In some vehicles even today, if you miss a fill at one of the Nullarbor servos, you might not reach the next one.

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My point is that even though there are a lot of Charging points over here, Tesla claim that their vehicles can do 300 miles / 500Ks but in real world use that does not happen and having to stop for 4 to 6 hours to charge it up every 150 / 200 miles means to drive to Scotland I would have to STOP for 24 Hours in total just to charge the thing and that does not include Travelling Time, And in UK Winter time as You Know it can get Dark here at 15:30 or 3.30 in the afternoon add to that running the Headlights and the Wipers and the Heater then the Range will be more like 90 to 130 miles

With my Van I can fuel it up and Drive there non stop in 5 to 8 hours,

EVIE/BEE said:

It costs $3500 to replace the batteries in a 'Toyota Prius'...and they're small batteries. The itek' is $50,000 drive away. Plus it's not even a camper (sorry off topic).

I need that life changing nugget. :argh:

ps; If you can't afford to put fuel in your 4WD you have a big problem!!!

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Depending on which Prius you buy over here the batteries can cost over $11,772.52c AUD for the plug in model. That's just crazy Ay.

If you're lucky you'll get a good second hand bank of batteries from the wreckers for $3500. 8.(

EVIE/BEE said:

If you're lucky you'll get a good second hand bank of batteries from the wreckers for $3500. 8.(

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Yeah the battery replacement costs are pretty horrific, I found a second hand a couple of weeks ago set for a Nissan Leaf on Ebay and they wanted 6500.00,

It seems that the cheaper Car brands charge more for the batteries, :N: :N: :N: